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Delhi:Even as gay
rights activists celebrated the Delhi High Court verdict Thursday
that gay sex was not a crime, religious leaders criticised the
rulling as an attempt "to impose Western culture on Indian society"
and said homosexuality went against "the will of god".

"This is a sad
day for civilised society. It (the ruling) is not acceptable. They
are playing with the future generations and civilised society," said
All India Muslim Personal Law Board's Kamal Farooqi.

"Scrapping such
a law is not justified. This is an attempt to impose Western culture
on Indian society," Maulana Abdul Khaleeq Madrasi, pro-vice
chancellor of Darul Uloom - India's biggest Islamic seminary - told
IANS on phone.

In a historic
judgment, the Delhi High Court de-criminalised homosexuality by
striking down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It said
that any sex between consenting adults should be legalised.

A bench of Chief
Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar said that if not
amended, the section 377 would violate Article 21 of the Indian
constitution, which states that every citizen has equal opportunity
of life and is equal before law.

Section 377, a
relic of the British Raj, relates to "unnatural offences" and says
that "whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order
of nature with any man, woman or animal should be punished".

Religious heads
were both shocked and angered by the judgement.

Gyani Gurbachan
Singh, head priest of the Akal Takth - the highest temporal seat of
the Sikh community - said: "We strongly oppose this high court
decision. It is against the laws of the nature. We appeal to the
Indian government to rethink the issue. We also appeal to the Sikh
community to boycott this verdict as it is against the teachings of
the Guru Granth Sahib."

Ganesh Tripathi,
a senior priest of Delhi Arya Samaj Mandir, said: "The Arya Samaj
can never accept this. This cannot be applied to Hindu society or
our beliefs."

"Homosexual acts
go against nature. This (judgement) is wrong and just because a
small section of society wanted this, the court has overlooked the
majority's views," he added.

"We have no
objection or opposition to de-criminalisation of homosexuality
because we never considered them criminals.

However, we are
also clear that we are against legalising it...because what they do
is unnatural and against the design and will of God," said Father
Dominic Emmanuel.

An outraged
Shahi Imam Ahmad Bukhari of the Jama Masjid told IANS: "This is such
a dirty issue. I have decided that I will not even speak about it
because if I do, it will be an insult to me and our belief. The
government cannot dare to make this legal - when they do, we will
react and talk then."

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